Position in chronology
CUSAS 03, 1021
About this tablet
A small receipt from the Garšana archive in southern Iraq, dated to the reign of Šu-Suen of the Third Dynasty of Ur (around 2030 BCE). It records two sheep issued as the regular daily offerings for two goddesses, Inanna of Zabalam and Šara of Umma, charged against the account of an official named Ili-bilani. The tablet was sealed by the scribe Iškur-illat, whose seal names him as servant of Šu-Kabta — the well-known master of the Garšana household, here unusually titled 'physician' rather than 'general'.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two sheep were issued from the account of Ili-bilani: one as the standard offering for Inanna of Zabalam, and one as the standard offering for Šara of Umma. This was done in the harvest month, in one of the regnal years of King Šu-Suen of Ur (the year name is broken). The document is stamped with the seal of Iškur-illat, scribe, son of Abia, who identifies himself as the servant of Šu-Kabta the physician, son of Naram-ili.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 sheep — regular offering (for) Inanna of [Zabalam]; 1 sheep — regular offering (for) [Šara of Umma]. [Withdrawn] from Ili-bi[lani]. Month: "Harvest" (še-sag-ku). Year: "Šu-Suen, [king] of Ur, [...]." (Seal:) Šu-Kabta, the physician, son of Naram-ili: Iškur-illat, the scribe, son of Abia, (is) your servant.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(disz) udu sa2-du11 inanna-[zabala4] 1(disz) udu sa2-du11 [szara2 umma] ki# i3-li2-bi#-[la-ni-ta ba-zi] iti sze-sag11#-[ku5] mu []szu-suen# [lugal] uri5-[ma-ke4 ...] szu-kab2-ta a-zu dumu na-ra-am-i3-li2 iszkur-illat dub-sar dumu a-bi2-a ARAD2-zu
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ur III (ca. 2100-2000 BC)) — CUSAS 03, 1021. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Šu-Suen y1 — Šu-Suen became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.
Attribution
Image: CUNES 48-04-016 (Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA) — from Garšana (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P322530). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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